ASHOK: -273: Ashoka (-273-232 reign), greatest
Mauryan Emperor, grandson of Chandragupta, is coronated. Repudiating conquest
through violence after his brutal invasion of Kalinga, -260, he converts to
Buddhism. Then he spread the Budhism all around.

GREAT WALL: -221: Great Wall of China is
built, ultimately 2,600 miles long, the only man-made object visible from the
moon.

ARYABHATTA: 500: Aryabhata I (476-ca 550),
Indian astronomer and mathematician, using Hindu (aka Arabic) numerals
accurately calculated pi () to 3.1416, and the solar year to 365.3586805 days.

MOHMMAD: 570-632: Mohammed, preacher of the
Quraysh Bedoin tribe, founder of Islam. Begen preaching in Mecca, calling for an
end to the "demons and idols" of Arab religion and conversion to the
ways of the one God, Allah.

GRAVITY: 598-665: Brahmagupta, preeminent
Indian astronomer, who writes on gravity and sets forth the Hindu astronomical
system in his Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta.

CHINESE MONK: 630-44: Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-Tsang
(Huan Zang) traveled in India. More than 60 Chinese monks have traveled to India
and her colonies. Four hundred Sanskrit works have been translated into Chinese,
380 survive to the present day.

USE OF ZERO: 750: Hindu astronomer and
mathematician travels to Baghdad, with Brahmagupta's Brahma Siddhanta (treatise
on astronomy) which he translates into Arabic, bestowing decimal notation and
use of zero on Arab world.

YOGA VASISHTHA: 750: Valmiki wrote
29,000-verse Yoga Vasishtha.

SHANKARACHARYA: 788: Adi Shankara (788-820) is
born in Malabar, famous monk philosopher of Smarta tradition regularizes ten
monastic orders called Dashanami. Preaches Mayavada Advaita, emphasizing the
world as illusion and God as the sole Reality.

GORAKH NATH: 1000: Gorakshanatha wrote Siddha
Siddhanta Paddhati, "Tracks on the Doctrines of the Adepts." The
nature of God and universe, structure of chakras, kundalini force and methods
for realization are explained in 353 verses.

SINDH-RAJASTHAN: 1000: A few Hindu communities
from Rajasthan, Sindh and other areas, the ancestors of present-day Romani, or
Gypsies, gradually move to Persia and on to Europe.

MATHURA TEMPLE SACKED: 1017: Mahmud of Ghazni
sacked Mathura, birthplace of Lord Krishna, and established a mosque on the site
during one of his 17 Indian invasions for holy war and plunder.

HINDU-MUSLIM: 1556: Akbar (1542-1605),
grandson of Babur, becomes third Mughal Emperor at age 13. Disestablishes Islam
as state religion and declared himself impartial ruler of Hindus and Muslims;
encourages art, culture, religious tolerance. 1565: Muslim forces defeat and
completely destroy the city of Vijayanagara. Empire's final collapse comes in
1646.

COPERNICUS: 1565: Polish astronomer
Copernicus' (1473-1543) Heliocentric system, in which the Earth orbits the sun,
gained popularity in Europe among astronomers and mathematicians.

SHIVAJI: 1627-80: Sivaji, valiant general and
tolerant founder of Hindu Maratha Empire (1674-1818). Emancipated large areas
confiscated by Muslims, returning them to Hindu control. First Indian ruler to
build a major naval force.

2 MILLIONS DIED: 1630: Over the next two
years, millions starve to death as Shah Jahan (1592-1666), fifth Mughal Emperor,
empties the royal treasury to buy jewels for his "Peacock Throne."

TAJMAHAL: 1647: Shah Jahan completed Taj Mahal
in Agra beside Yamuna River. Its construction has taken 20,000 laborers 15
years, at a total cost equivalence of US$25 million.

RED FORT: 1649: Red Fort is completed in Delhi
by Shah Jahan.

PRETEND TO CONVERT HINDUS: 1650: Robert de
Nobili (1577-1656), Portuguese Jesuit missionary noted for fervor and
intolerance, arrives in Madurai, declares himself a brahmin, dresses like a
Hindu monk and composes Veda-like scripture extolling Jesus.

KILLED: 1761: Afghan army of Ahmad Shah
Durrani routs Hindu Maratha forces at Panipat, ending Maratha hegemony in North
India. As many as 200,000 Hindus are said to have died in the strategic
eight-hour battle.

NEPOLEON: 1812: Napoleon's army retreats from
Moscow. Only 20,000 soldiers survive out of a 500,000-man invasion force.

INDIANS IN AMERICA: 1820: First Indian
immigrants arrive in the

US. BIBLE.. VEDA: 1822-79: Life of Arumuga
Navalar of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, renaissance activist who propounds Advaita
Siddhanta, writes first Hindu catechism and translates Bible into Tamil so it
can be compared faithfully to the Vedas and Agamas.

GANDHI: 1869-1948: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
Indian nationalist and Hindu political activist who develops the strategy of
nonviolent disobedience that forces Christian Great Britain to grant
independence to India (1947).

FIJI AND TRINIDAD: 1917: Last Hindu Indian
indentured laborers are brought to British Christian colonies of Fiji and
Trinidad.

WORLD WAR: 1918: World War I ends. Death toll
is estimated at ten million.

SATYAGRAHA: 1920: Gandhi formulates the
satyagraha, "firmness in truth," strategy of noncooperation and
nonviolence against India's Christian British rulers. Later resolves to wear
only dothi to preserve homespun cotton and simplicity.

TAIGORE: 1922: Tagore's school at
Shantineketan (founded 1901) is made into Vishva Bharati Univ. Becomes national
Univ., 1951.

BHARATIYA VISHYA BHAVAN: 1938: Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan is founded in Bombay by K.M. Munshi to conserve, develop and diffuse
Indian culture.

HITLER: 1939: Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf
("My Struggle"), manifesto of Nazism, published 1925, sells 5 million
copies in 11 languages. It reveals his racist Aryan, anti-Semitic ideology,
strategy of revenge and Socialist rise to power. 1939: World War II begins
September 3, as France and Britain declare war on Germany after Germany invades
Poland.

JINNAH: 1939: Mohammed Ali Jinnah calls for a
separate Muslim state.

SIX MILLION KILLED: 1945: Germany surrenders
to Allied forces. Ghastly concentration camps that killed 6 million Jews are
discovered.

NAGASHAKI & HIROSHIMA: 1945: US drops
atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan, ending World War II. Total war
dead is 60 million.

INDEPENDENCE: 1947: India gains independence
from Britain August 15. Pakistan emerges as a separate Islamic nation, and
600,000 die in clashes during subsequent population exchange of 14 million
people between the two new countries.

NO DISCREMINATION: 1949: India's new
constitution, authored chiefly by B.R. Ambedkar, declares there shall be no
"discrimination" against any citizen on the grounds of caste, jati,
and that the practice of "untouchability" is abolished.

SURINAM: 1975: Netherlands gives independence
to Dutch Guyana, which becomes Suriname; one third of Hindus (descendants of
Indian plantation workers) emigrate to Netherlands for better social and
economic conditions.

IMMIGRANTS: 1984: Since 1980, Asians have made
up 48% of immigrants to the US, with the European portion shrinking to 12%. In
1988 US allows annual influx of 270,000 Asian immigrants.

INDIRA GANDHI: 1984: Indian soldiers under
orders from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi storm Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar to
crush rebellion. She is assassinated this year by her Sikh bodyguards in
retaliation. Her son Rajiv takes office.

RAM MANDIR: 1990: Foundation stones are laid
in Ayodhya for new temple at the birthplace of Lord Rama, as Hindu nationalism
rises.

OVER 50,000 TEMPLES DESTROYED: 1992: Hindu
radicals demolish Babri Masjid built in 1548 on Rama's birthplace in Ayodhya by
Muslim conqueror Babar after he destroyed a Hindu temple marking the site. The
monument was a central icon of Hindu resentment toward Muslim destruction of
50,000 temples.

DUSTRUCTION OF ALL TEMPLES: 2001: Afganistan
Government has declared "Jehad" that they shall destroy each and every
Hindu temple in the country.